Hannah said Shereen, 25, who was born in Ipoh, Perak and is currently a student-athlete at Winona State University in Minnesota, United States has shown excellent improved performance.

In this regard, she said the youth and sports ministry wanted to provide support to athletes like Shereen.

“However, the form of assistance that will be given is still being discussed at the ministry level first.

“The meeting next week (Tuesday) will be held at the ministry and after that we will update the media,” she told reporters after launching the Kuala Lumpur Standard Charted Marathon (KLSCM) 2023 here.

Yesterday, FMT reported that the mother of the national 400m runner, Josephine Mary said Shereen is facing problems to finance her training and stay in Florida as the sponsorship from the Better Malaysia Foundation (BMF) is expected to be only enough until December.

Shereen will be moving to Florida in June after her last semester at Winona State University for an internship and further training under coach Derrick White.

On April 16, Shereen broke the national 400m record held by the late Rabia Abdul Salam with a time of 51.80s at the 63rd Annual Mt SAC Relays Athletics Championship, California, USA.

Shereen had previously broken the 400m indoor national record four times, with the last one helping her to win a gold medal at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in Virginia Beach, Virginia last May.

She will also represent the country in the 400m and 4x400m events at the Cambodia SEA Games next month.

Meanwhile, Hannah said the 15th edition of KLSCM, which is scheduled to take place on Sept 30 and Oct 1, is a good way to attract Malaysians to participate in healthy activities as there are various categories to participate in.

A total of 40,000 participants are expected to join the event, which has received the Road Race label from World Athletics.